Improvement in manufacturing wadding



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JULIUS O. HUB-D, OF DORCHESTER, AND MOSES A. JOHNSON, OF LOWELL,

MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MANUFACTURING WADDING.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 24,640, dated July 5, 1859.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, J. G. HURD, of Dorchester, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, and MOSES A. JOHNSON, of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and improved wadding for articles of dress and for other purposes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,together with the method which we have adopted of manufacturing the same.

Such wadding has usually been made of a lap of cotton having its upper and under surfaces covered with size, for the purpose of giving to it sufficient strength to enable it to keep its place in the garment. Itis found, however, that after this glazed wadding has been some time in wear the glazing is liable to become broken and fall off; or if it be exposed to water it is liable to be washed off, and the cotton, no longer held together, gets out of place and collects in bunches where it is not required. To prevent this the wadding is often quilted onto a thin material or interlining, and the sheet thus produced retains its place within the garment; but this operation is both tedious and expensive, and is adopted only in expensive garments. A wadding of a superior character as regards warmth has been made entirely of wool, but it is too expensive for general use, and, like that made of cotton, will not retain its place in the garment unless closely quilted to an interlining.

To remedy these difficulties, and to produce a wadding without glazing that shall retain its place in the garment without the necessity of being stitched to an interlining, and which shall be warm and light, is the object of our present invention, which consists in slightlyfelting the two surfaces of the hat, a thin layer of wool or other suitable felting material being deposited upon each side of it when the material of which it is composed will not of itself consolidate by felting.

1n carrying out our invention, when the body of the wadding is to be of cotton, we form a lap in the manner usually adopted in the manufacture of cotton wadding, by the assemblage of a number of slivers from a series of cards, the slivers from the first and last card of the series being of wool or other felting material, all the others of cotton The lap thus formed having a thin layer of wool upon each surface, is then run through a felting-machine, by which the wool upon its two surfaces is felted, and by the same operation is united to the lap. That the body of the bat may not be compressed and consolidated, the weight of the rubber or felter should not be allowed to press or bear heavily upon the lap. The machine which we prefer'for this operationis that for which Letters Patent were granted to M. A. Johnson on the 6th of May, 1856, in which the lap is held up to the vibrating rubber by a traveling apron, and particularly a modification of this machine gotten up by J. H. Bloodgood and M. A. Johnson, in which the vibrating rubbers are replaced by vibrating revolving cylinders. The details of this machine, however, form no part of our present invention, and need not be further described.

In theabove description we have spoken only of a wadding having a. body or interior of cotton and two surfaces of wool, but it is obvious that the cotton may be replaced wholly or in part by other fibrous substances-such as flax, jute, and silk-while the covering may be composed of flock, shoddy, hair, or any other felting substance. Vaddings of various materials may thus be made which are superiorin warmth to those ordinarily employed, and which are possessed of a strength and consistency enabling them to retain their place wherever they are employedwithoutthenecessityofquiltingthem to an interlining.

It is also evident that the wadding manufactured as above may be employed as comforters or bed-spreads, mattresses, and for upholstering purposes generally, as well as for placing beneath floor-carpets.

that we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent as a new article of manufacture, is-

The within-described wadding, having its two surfaces felted, as set forth, for the pur pose specified.

JULIUS G. HURD. MOSES A. JOHNSON.

Witnesses: I

SAM. COOPER, 1 E. TESCHEMAGHE a. 

